Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence & Leadership Communication Style

Access your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide.

Stop Making Executives Dig for Your Best Idea

If a senior leader has to excavate your recommendation from three minutes of context, your idea may be excellent—but it is not yet executive-ready.

Conscientious leaders often begin at the beginning because they want others to understand the analysis, history, and nuance behind their thinking. But executives are listening first for the destination: What should we know? Why does it matter? What do you recommend? What decision is needed? Context is not the enemy. Unprioritized context is.

By the end of this short episode you’ll know:

3️⃣ A simple three-part structure starting with lead with the headline

🧩How to sound concise without becoming simplistic—and how to make your judgment easier for senior leaders to recognize and use

🪝 What to do with all the context in your head

Choose one update you expect to give this week and write the first sentence senior leaders need to hear. Test it by asking: If I were interrupted after this sentence, would the room still know my essential point?

Record the result in your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide, then continue with Day 3 to prepare for unexpected pushback.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Speaking up in executive meetings
• Executive Presence
• High-stakes conversations
• Business leadership communication
• Executive Presence Tips
• Senior Leader Advice
• How to speak up in executive meetings
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Access your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide.

The 7-Minute Rule That Makes You More Visible in Executive Meetings

The executive meeting on your calendar may do more to shape your career than the presentation you spent three weeks perfecting. While everyone discusses the agenda, senior leaders are also noticing who has judgment, who can handle pressure, and who belongs in the next room.

For many high-performing introvert leaders, the hardest contribution is the first one. The longer you wait, the more room you give overthinking to take control—and the greater the chance that someone else will say the idea you were still rehearsing.

In this first episode of the five-day Q4 Visibility Challenge, Laura introduces the 7-Minute Rule: contribute something useful within the first seven minutes of an important meeting.

By the end of today’s episode you’ll know:

💰How to enter the conversation without forcing a brilliant insight

🧩Use the phrase “What I like about that is…” to add value rather than empty agreement

🎯Prepare one question or observation before the meeting begins

Speaking early makes the next contribution easier and gives senior leaders visible evidence of how you think.

Choose one important meeting this week. Prepare one useful contribution and deliver it within the first seven minutes. Then record what happened in your Executive Meeting Visibility Guide. Continue with Day 2 to make sure executives hear your best idea without having to dig for it.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Speaking up in executive meetings
• Executive Presence
• High-stakes conversations
• Business leadership communication
• Executive Presence Tips
• Senior Leader Advice
• How to speak up in executive meetings
• How to communicate with senior leadership
• How to develop executive presence
• How to be seen as VP material
• How to influence executives
• How to stop overexplaining at work
• How to answer executive questions concisely
• How to handle pushback from senior leaders
• How to increase visibility with leadership
• Director-to-VP transition

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

What if trying to always be right is actually weakening your executive presence?

For high-performing leaders, admitting you made the wrong call can feel risky. You may worry that reversing a recommendation, acknowledging a flawed assumption, or admitting someone else saw the situation more clearly will cause people to question your judgment. But executive presence isn’t about being infallible—it’s about how you respond when reality proves you wrong.

In this episode, Laura examines Chamath Palihapitiya’s public reflections on his mistakes during the SPAC boom to reveal what owning a mistake can teach us about authority, trust, and leadership.

By the end of this episode you’ll know:

🎯How to separate a bad decision from your identity so you stop hiding behind explanations and excuses.

🔥How to transform admitting a mistake into top value for your company.

4️⃣A simple four-part framework for communicating a changed recommendation.

Play the episode to learn how to admit when you’re wrong, revise your thinking with confidence, and turn mistakes into evidence of stronger executive leadership.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

Sources and production notes:

Chamath’s statements about his SPAC incentives, insecurity and redesigned incentive structure: OfficeChai’s coverage of his June 2026 Axios interview.

• The original interview and its framing of the SPAC chapter as the biggest “blemish” on his record: The Axios Show.
• Leadership research: Jia Hu, Shuxia Zhang, Robert B. Lount Jr. and Bennett J. Tepper, “When leaders heed the lessons of mistakes,” Personnel Psychology (2024): research paper.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to admit you’re wrong without losing authority
• Executive presence when making mistakes
• How admitting mistakes can strengthen leadership credibility
• How to change your mind without appearing indecisive
• How to reverse a recommendation with confidence
• Why defensiveness can damage leadership trust
• How leaders can take ownership of bad decisions
• How to explain why a decision failed without making excuses
• The difference between confidence and executive presence
• How to communicate a change in strategy to your team
• How leader humility encourages team voice and learning
• How to create a culture where employees speak up about problems
• How to demonstrate intellectual flexibility as a leader
• The relationship between executive presence, trust, and accountability
• What leaders can learn from Chamath Palihapitiya’s SPAC experience

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

What if the secret to becoming more influential at work isn’t talking more—but learning how to listen like a hostage negotiator?

Whether you’re asking for more resources, pushing back on a senior leader, dealing with an attack in a meeting, or negotiating for something you need, your ability to stay composed and understand the other person can completely change the conversation.

In this episode of The Speak Up Show, former Las Vegas police officer and Black Swan communication expert Annette Mullin shares lessons from 24 years in law enforcement, including her experience in investigations and crisis negotiation. She explains how tactical empathy, curiosity, preparation, and deliberate listening can help you navigate difficult conversations without becoming aggressive—or backing down.

In today’s episode with Annette Mullin you’ll discover how to:

👂Listen for someone’s internal logic and emotions so you can understand what’s really driving their behavior and build greater influence.

🔑 Stay calm when you’re challenged or attacked by using tactical breathing, curiosity, labeling, silence, and a controlled tone.

🧲Prepare for important negotiations through low-stakes practice, crisis rehearsal, and techniques such as labels, mirrors, dynamic silence, and summaries.

Play the episode to learn how to turn high-pressure conversations into opportunities to build trust, strengthen your leadership reputation, and negotiate with greater confidence.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

About our guest:

Annette Mullin retired from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) in August 2021, concluding a 24-year career in law enforcement. Throughout her tenure, Annette specialized in Violent Crimes against Persons, dedicating over 20 years to various roles including Criminal Intelligence, Sexual Assault/Abuse, Abuse/Neglect, Internal Affairs, Force Investigations, and Homicide.

During her time with the LVMPD, Annette served as a Crisis Negotiator for nine years and led the Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) for two years. In 2018, she was promoted to the rank of Director and spearheaded the Police Employee Assistance Program, providing health and wellness resources to LVMPD employees and their families.

Annette has also made significant contributions to education, teaching Sexual Assault Prevention, Sex Trafficking Investigations and Domestic Violence Prevention both locally and internationally, with engagements as far-reaching as Vietnam and Budapest.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How tactical empathy improves workplace communication and negotiation
• The five levels of listening and how to practice empathetic listening
• How active listening builds trust and influence with senior leaders
• How to uncover someone’s internal logic and emotional motivations
• How to push back respectfully when someone has more power
• How to make someone feel heard without agreeing with them
• How to stay composed when attacked in a meeting
• How tactical breathing helps leaders regulate stress in real time
• How tone, cadence, and silence de-escalate workplace conflict
• How to use labels to address emotions and difficult behavior
• Four essential negotiation tools: labels, mirrors, dynamic silence, and summaries
• How curiosity reduces defensiveness, judgment, and assumptions
• How accusation audits prepare leaders for objections
• How to negotiate for resources, headcount, compensation, and executive attention
• How crisis rehearsal and role-play prepare leaders for high-stakes negotiations

Are you Director or Above Who Wants Faster Promotions, More Influence, and Stronger Executive Presence?

Book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call to discover the communication patterns that help high performers get seen as senior leaders.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here

You can be the person doing the most important work in the room—and still be the person leadership forgets to invite into it.

And if that's happening to you, doing even better work probably isn't going to fix it.

You can be highly respected, trusted for your expertise, and responsible for strategically important work while still being excluded from the executive conversations that shape your next career opportunity. The problem may not be that you need to work harder or become more visible. It may be that senior leaders are experiencing you as the expert who executes the work rather than the executive-level resource they want helping them make the decision.

In this episode, you'll discover:

🧩Why being respected for your expertise does not automatically make senior leaders see you as executive material

🚫Why “I just need more visibility” is probably the wrong diagnosis

🪝What has to change if you want executives to start thinking, “We need her/him in this conversation.”

Play the episode to learn how to shift from being the expert executives know about to the strategic resource they believe they need in the room.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to develop executive presence
• How to communicate with senior executives
• How to communicate like an executive
• How to get noticed by senior leadership
• How to get invited to executive meetings
• How to move from Director to VP
• Why high performers get overlooked for promotion
• How to demonstrate executive readiness
• How to be seen as a strategic leader
• How to stop being seen as only the technical expert
• How to transition from technical expert to strategic leader
• How to build executive visibility
• How to communicate business impact to executives
• How to build influence with senior stakeholders
• How to become a trusted advisor to executives

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

With only 97 days remaining in 2026, working harder probably won’t change that story. You need one unmistakable piece of new evidence. Today I give you 5 options to develop that evidence and multiply your influence.

In this Fun Friday episode, Laura shares five unexpected, research-supported moves that can change how senior leadership perceives you before year-end. From adopting a signature color and organizing a strategic lunch to recognizing overlooked talent, recommending what the organization should stop doing and claiming a problem nobody owns, each move communicates a different kind of leadership value.

By the end of this episode you’ll know:

🪝Create recognition through consistency. Learn how a distinctive visual or audio signal can make your leadership presence more memorable

🎉Demonstrate leadership by creating value for others. Use purposeful gatherings and meaningful recognition to become known as someone who connects people, develops talent and strengthens collaboration

💰Replace greater output with stronger judgment. Discover how eliminating low-value work or claiming an overlooked organizational problem can position you as an enterprise-minded executive

As of the release day of this episode, You have 97 days left in 2026.

That is 97 days to change how leadership sees you.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

Studies cited in this episode:

Research on enclothed cognition

Workplace commensality study

Employee-recognition field experiment

Nature study on overlooking subtraction

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

This episode explores how executive presence, leadership visibility, and a memorable personal brand at work shape your leadership reputation and career advancement. Discover a practical Q4 career strategy for high-performing introverts who want to strengthen their executive leadership skills, workplace influence, professional visibility, cross-functional leadership, executive decision-making, and strategic thinking. You’ll also learn how employee recognition and intentional leadership development can change leadership perception—and how to get noticed by senior leadership for the right reasons.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to change leadership’s perception of you
• Five high-ROI executive-presence moves
• Using enclothed cognition and signature clothing at work
• How consistent visual signals increase memorability
• Organizing a cross-functional leadership lunch
• The relationship between shared meals and team performance
• Using employee awards to make invisible contributions visible
• How specific recognition influences workplace performance
• Why leaders overlook subtractive solutions
• Creating a strategic stop-doing recommendation
• Demonstrating executive judgment through prioritization
• Identifying problems that fall between organizational silos
• Taking charge without becoming the team’s permanent fixer
• Moving from individual contributor to enterprise leader
• Building leadership visibility without bragging
• Choosing a Q4 action that changes your professional reputation

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

Are you working hard, delivering results, and doing everything expected of you—yet still struggling to get recognized, influence senior leaders, or move to the next level?

Being great at your job is important, but results alone may not be enough to move from director to VP or become a more influential executive. The way you communicate, build relationships, contribute in meetings, and make your impact visible can dramatically change how others experience your leadership.

In this episode, Laura sits down with Tracy Nolan, Senior Vice President at Humana and an experienced board member, to unpack what effective communication and influence actually look like at the highest levels of an organization.

Tracy shares lessons from her own career—including being passed over for an opportunity despite being a high performer—and explains what she learned about looking beyond her immediate responsibilities. From presenting to a board and building relationships with busy executives to speaking up during uncertainty, this conversation reveals how leaders can create influence without bragging, pretending to have all the answers, or playing corporate politics.

By the end of this episode you'll know how to:

🔎Communicate more effectively with boards and senior executives by starting with the headline and using other techniques

📈Increase your visibility and position yourself for advancement by demonstrating an enterprise-level perspective

🏗️Build greater trust and influence as a leader by bringing meaningful questions and challenges into meetings, seeking input before controversial decisions, and communicating honestly.

Play the episode to learn how to communicate, build relationships, and show up more strategically so your hard work translates into greater influence, visibility, and leadership opportunities.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

About our guest:

From being the youngest executive and only woman on a retail board to leading 24,000 employees through the historic Sprint/T-Mobile merger during COVID-19, Tracy Nolan brings powerful insights on transformative leadership and breaking glass ceilings. As the current SVP at Humana and a board member for Dress for Success Worldwide, she offers a unique perspective on balancing strength with compassion in leadership.

Some highlights of Tracy's career include:

• Managing $31B in revenue with a $6B operating budget
• Leading through multiple crises, including 9/11 and natural disasters
• Mentoring women from office managers to executive leadership roles
• Led transformative initiatives at Fortune 100 companies (Humana, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon)
• First female Regional President at Verizon (Upstate NY) and Silver Stevie Award winner (Female Executive of the Year, 2022)
• Harvard Business School Women on Boards graduate and NACD Directorship Certification holder

Tracy combines practical leadership strategies with inspiring personal stories, showing that impactful leadership isn’t about choosing between strength and empathy—it’s about leveraging both.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• How to get promoted from director to VP
• Why high performers get passed over for promotions
• How to communicate with senior executives
• How to build executive presence
• How to build influence without playing office politics
• How to become more visible to senior leadership
• How to get recognized at work without bragging
• How to influence senior leaders
• How to get executive buy-in
• How to present to a board of directors
• How to demonstrate strategic leadership
• How to think like an executive
• How to speak confidently in executive meetings
• How to build relationships with senior leaders
• How leaders should communicate when they don’t have all the answers

Are you Director or Above Who Wants Faster Promotions, More Influence, and Stronger Executive Presence?

Book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call to discover the communication patterns that help high performers get seen as senior leaders.

👉 Book Your Executive Strategy Call here.

Have you ever been asked for your opinion in an executive meeting, only to have your brain freeze—even though you knew exactly what you wanted to say five minutes earlier?

You’ve delivered the results. You know the business. Your team already sees you as a confident, capable leader. But in high-stakes executive meetings, you may find yourself second-guessing your recommendations, retreating when challenged, or thinking of the perfect response only after the meeting ends.

The problem is bigger than one uncomfortable moment. Senior leaders are forming opinions about your readiness for the next level based on how they experience your leadership when the pressure is on. And if they aren’t seeing your strategic thinking, excellent work alone may not be enough to convince them you’re ready for VP.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

🥶Why freezing in executive meetings doesn’t mean you can’t think on your feet—and the belief that could be making the problem worse

📖How to prepare for high-stakes conversations without trying to anticipate every possible question or having every answer

💰How to communicate your recommendations, handle pushback, and give senior leadership consistent evidence that you can lead at the next level.

Play this episode to learn how to stop disappearing when the stakes are high and start showing senior leadership the confident, strategic, VP-ready leader you already know you can be.

So look, if you find yourself freezing when a senior leader puts you on the spot—even though you know your business, you’ve delivered the results, and five minutes later you know exactly what you should have said—that’s not something you want to keep hoping will fix itself.

If Senior Director, VP, or C-suite is your goal, you don’t want excellent work happening behind the scenes while your executive presence is holding you back in the rooms that matter most.

That’s exactly why I created Executive Presence Mastery. It gives you the one-on-one guidance you need to communicate your thinking clearly, handle pushback with confidence, and show up like a senior leader—without becoming an extrovert, dominating meetings, or trying to prepare for every possible question.

If this episode felt a little too familiar, go to the show notes, click here, and book a confidential Executive Presence Strategy Call with me.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Executive presence for introverted leaders
• How to stop freezing in executive meetings
• Thinking on your feet under pressure
• Communicating confidently with senior leadership
• How to handle pushback from executives
• Building confidence in high-stakes meetings
• Showing strategic thinking at the executive level
• Preparing for executive meetings without overpreparing
• Moving from Director to VP
• How to demonstrate VP readiness
• Becoming more visible to senior leadership
• Avoiding the “invisible overperformer” trap
• Speaking with confidence when you don’t have all the answers
• Building a reputation as a senior leader
• Executive communication skills for high-performing introvert

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

Many accomplished leaders tell the kind of story that leaves the audience checking their latest Slack message or maybe their upcoming Amazon delivery.

What if your story doesn't need more polish?

What if they need to feel less finished?

In this episode of Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence, Laura Camacho reveals an unexpected storytelling lesson from Spencer Pratt: the most influential stories invite people into what happens next.

Using Spencer and Heidi Montag’s experience after losing their home in the 2025 Pacific Palisades fire, Laura breaks down how leaders can create more compelling stories without manufacturing drama, oversharing, or sacrificing executive presence.

In today's episode you’ll learn the following from a legit reality tv star:

🔥How to identify the exact moment of change that creates tension and immediately pulls people into your story.

1️⃣Why one concrete, memorable detail can communicate the stakes more powerfully than polished corporate language.

🧩How to leave the right part of your story unresolved so your audience understands the role they can play in moving the outcome forward.

Play the episode to learn how to turn your leadership stories from polished summaries into compelling narratives that give people a reason to listen, believe, and act.

An unfinished story with a meaningful role for the audience can create action.

And action is where storytelling becomes influence.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why polished leadership stories can feel boring
• How to create stakes and suspense in business storytelling
• Using moments of change to begin a compelling story
• Concrete details that make leadership stories memorable
• Turning audiences from passive listeners into participants
• Using unfinished stories to motivate action
• Executive storytelling for influence and engagement
• How to tell concise, memorable stories at work
• Executive presence for introvert leaders

Know Your Own Executive Presence Strengths & Opportunities:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted.

Today you can actually learn how to know if your executive influence is where you think it is. Listen today to learn this life changing skill.

Under pressure, it’s easy to slip into a reactive, defensive, or judgmental mindset. But the questions you ask yourself and others can determine how your team responds, how much information people are willing to share, and whether you make decisions from curiosity or judgment.

In this episode of the Speak Up podcast, Laura welcomes Marilee Adams, CEO of the Inquiry Institute, to explore how leaders can use questions to improve their communication, executive presence, decision-making, and relationships.

In today’s episode you’ll discover:

💡Why powerful inquiry actually begins with the questions you silently ask yourself—and how changing those questions can change how you show up as a leader

🔎How to recognize when you’ve slipped into a “judger” mindset and intentionally shift back into a curious, open-minded “learner” mindset.

🎯The exact question you need to ask yourself to help you design better questions that invite conversation instead of triggering defensiveness.

Play the episode to discover how asking better questions can help you stay present under pressure, empower the people around you, and become a more effective leader.

Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment here.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

About our guest:

Meet Marilee Adams, an award-winning author, leadership expert, and pioneer of inquiry-based coaching. Through her work as founder and CEO of The Inquiry Institute, Adams has helped leaders, coaches, and organizations transform how they think, decide, and lead.

To uncover her proven approach, readers can turn to her bestselling book, Change Your Questions, Change Your Life, Fifth Edition. With more than half a million copies sold in twenty-two languages, this refreshed edition shows how a simple shift in questioning can unlock clarity, confidence, and lasting results, at work and at home.

The book is a powerful fable that follows Ben Knight on a transformative journey, guided by fourteen practical tools for Question Thinking. Along the way, readers learn to use the Choice Map, a powerful visual tool that reveals how everyday questions shape our mindset.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Executive presence and leadership communication
• How leaders can ask better questions
• Learner mindset vs. judger mindset
• Building trust and psychological safety on teams
• Getting employees to tell leaders the truth
• Emotional self-regulation for leaders
• Communicating and influencing under pressure
• Handling difficult questions in high-stakes meetings
• Using curiosity to improve leadership and decision-making
• How executive leaders build influence and trust
• Preparing for board meetings and executive presentations
• Active listening and understanding others
• Avoiding defensive communication as a leader
• Asking questions that empower employees and teams
• Improving executive decision-making through better questions
• Executive presence during conflict and tension
• How leadership behavior affects employee communication
• Developing emotional and social intelligence as a leader